Purge
by Venomous Macabre
Summary: Is this... my heart? Memories are the weaves that bind the heart together. Yuffentine


Alright, I'm finally done with this thing. Trust me, I've been meaning to revamp that story for a long time. By far, it's one of my favorites in concept. Unfortunately, very frequently am I dissatisfied with my writing. I can never fully get it down like I want. Though, this is a lighter chapter, I think. Other than the beginning anyway. It's hard to be very serious in a Kingdom Hearts game. They use Disney after all.

People who have read OASIS (god, that was a really long time ago), would be familiar with the second part of the prologue. Now that I think about it, that part hasn't changed all that much.

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own anything. Except for the main villain, and others I'll mention.

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"Is this… my heart?"

She found it much too difficult to believe, but as she recalled the words Sora had shared some time ago, it held a striking resemblance. All that surrounded her was a thick darkness. It made her think of a demon watching her in the cover of black with predatory eyes—

Watching her every move.

Yuffie let out a low whistle, sitting in an Indian-style position, feeling her pulse pick up as she continued her staring contest with the dark space. She had been fortunate enough to be placed on the single platform, yet there was neither entrance nor exit she could use. There seemed to be nothing else in existence.

It was what unnerved her most she had thought at first. Chills ran down her spine, and they only seemed to increase in intensity as she continued to linger there. The girl stood up, stretching her legs for a moment to try and ease the restless emotions.  
There was no way this was supposed to be her heart, the sort of emptiness that filled her subconscious. Wasn't the heart supposed to mirror your own emotions? She couldn't ever remember feeling depressed, terrified, and alone—recently anyway. Her echoing footsteps seemed to even increase the tension hanging in the thick, dark air.

A chance glance down only surfaced more confusion. She could recognize the fierce serpent god of her homeland, Leviathan as he wrapped protectively around a younger girl lying on her side in a half fetal position. While the picture seemed brightly colored, the girl's color schemes seemed oddly pale in comparison. Her skin was a chalky white, her hair a light brown that seemed matted and dirty. The olive green turtle neck and small cargo shorts seem to be in a similar state, tears along the clothing from over use.

The half-lidded, dull, gray eyes what disturbed her the most, she decided. There was a certain haze in those orbs like the woman was staring into nothing, her soul eternally lost to the chilling embrace of death that seemed to radiate in the dark atmosphere. The color of those eyes—the face-- undoubtedly, it was of Wutai heritage—her heritage. Could it be that someone else had survived in her country... or was it her?

"Are you the fake?"

She whirled her head around, nearly jumping out of her own skin at the sound of another female voice. The possibility of this seemed near impossible to her, but as she looked at the visitor, it certainly wasn't an illusion. What she stared back at looked almost identical to the woman portrayed on the platform. Only, the stranger looked like what may have happened moments before she died.

Her frame seemed bony and malnourished with gray-tinted pale skin. Her dark brown hair seemed wild and poorly kept. Dark rings were clear under dark gray eyes, while there was a faint trail of blood running from the girl's pale lips. The yellow scarf worn loosely around her next was torn to near shreds, with a considerable gash seen just barely missing the neck as it crossed her collar bone. The green tank-top with blue straps and small tan shorts seemed relatively intact, but there was a clear gash in the woman's abdomen and bruises on her legs. The arms were in similar condition as her legs; her wrists rubbed raw from tight shackles that connected the two wrists together.

"Well, are you?" the stranger asked again, a hoarse sound from disuse. Yuffie didn't know what to say, she didn't have an idea what was going on, and the recurring familiarity of everything was not stopping the fear that encroached her heart.

"... No?" Yuffie finally responded rather stupidly, taking a wary step back from the stranger. There was something radiating off the girl that quickened her own pulse, adrenaline dumping into her veins. Maybe this was home for this stranger, creating the atmosphere that weighed down her heart. Was it a suppressed memory? She remembered that outfit fairly well from her time when Sora first came, but never had she been in that kind of shape.

Her thoughts were cut short when the younger girl stepped forward, as if to examine Yuffie closely. As those glazed over eyes looked into hers, she swallowed thickly through a lump that had formed in her throat. There was no clear emotion in those eyes and it seemed to make her stomach churn. They wouldn't blink, or move, just stare blankly at her. She wanted to scream what was wrong, but her throat seemed to have closed at the same time.

"... What are we going to do now? I want to be free too," the stranger's eyes finally tore away and looked about the platform, as if believing her answer would lie around there. Yuffie sincerely doubted it would, scratching her black hair for a moment trying to find her own means of escape.

The girl's head shot towards her after a moment, and something flickered in her gray orbs; a bloodlust that reminded Yuffie of the scampering heartless that frequently plagued Radiant Garden. In that moment, the 19-year-old knew she was in trouble. "What do I have to do?!" the girl suddenly began screaming, her voice cracking at the sudden pitch. "I don't even remember how you came to existence! Yet... you're here for some reason..."  
A deep frown perked on the Wutain's face. "... What... What the hell are you talking about?" Her breathing was becoming difficult, possibly out of fear or out of the thick air around them. She had a feeling that she was overstaying her welcome—but would the girl let her leave alive?

Worriedly, she noted there were no weapons on her. Yuffie wasn't that good at melee fighting, but the stranger didn't seem to have anything on her either. "If you were dead... would I be free? Is that really all?"

The 19-year-old bit on her lip and backed away once more, fully aware that there was something clearly wrong about this. She felt almost stuck in some horror movie, where the serial killer had cornered its intended victim before making the fatal strike. Only now she wished she watched more movies on how the main protagonist managed to squeeze out of the near impossible. Maybe reasoning would do the trick, never mind that the girl was sprouting utter nonsense already. "Listen, I don't know who you are or what the fuck is going on, but I'm not just gonna let you kill me!" The other girl just stared at her in response. "If we're not gonna be SANE, normal people and actually talk about this, then just what the fuck are you going to do if this doesn't work?!"

The girl still said nothing in response except extending her hands outward as far as the shackles would allow. Yuffie's muscles tensed though as she thought about what was coming. There was nothing to fear as long as she remained bound. There wasn't much she could do like that.

Even a smirked perked up on the ninja's lips, feeling the confidence soothe her previous fevered heart. The girl remained emotionless, but there was a sudden change in her eyes to a pure hazy white. She held her hands out, spreading them as far as the handcuffs would allow her. Yuffie tilted her head to the side, lowering her hands in confusion.

"ALL CREATION!"

A white light suddenly surged into her back, an explosion of pain erupting inside her body. She suddenly became blinded, but she felt her body going into convulsions—or was someone shaking her?

"Hey, brat! Wake up!"

She opened her eyes to stare at fiery blue orbs. Cid Highwind gave a quizzical look as he stood back straight with an 'hmph' as she sat up a bit dazedly. She held her head, but only grogginess entered her veins rather than pain. She looked up at the rough blonde with confusion. "… Oh… hey. Are we there yet?"

She expected the scoff from him, rubbing his nose like he usually did. "Wouldn' be wakin ya up jus ta hurl all over the damn place!" She wobbly stood to her feet, playfully punching the older man in the arm with a smirk, trying to put the previous experience to the back of her mind. It was just a dream after all, nothing more.

The light pooling from the large windows of the Sierra caught her attention for a moment, placing her hand carefully against the glass. Maybe it was out of shock that kept her eyes to the ground covered with dead straw yellow grass. The trees that used to grow so tall in the mountains were no longer in sight. The ninja grimaced.

"Don' understand why ya'd want to go back that piece of shit land anyway," she hear Cid grumble rather lowly before peering out beside her, arms crossed on his chest. She smiled for a moment, stepping back as she placed her hands behind her back.

"It's my home. What do you expect?"

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She turned back only once to wave as the Sierra lifted off into the sky, leaving her alone in the barren wasteland. She knew this was something was going to take time, and, while she was always known to be rather impatient, she knew this was worth the wait. Her sneakers crunched the soft earth as she trudged her way through the dead grass and decrepit structures. The dry wind bit at her back, only making her more aware of the burning hot weather that baked her land.

Yuffie was relieved to finally begin working on her old homeland. The others had the privilege to be situated on the same continent as their hometowns, but this was difficult when she previously lived on an island. It was only when the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee had a small vacation was she finally able to convince Cid into taking her to Wutai. It was even harder to convince him for her to stay alone.

Though now she was wondering if it was worth it. Few buildings seemed to have withstood the damage of time, vines quickly dominating the chipping paint. Even the bridge that had connected the two parts of the town was in shambles (Yuffie recalled this rather unpleasantly because she had fallen in the river while trying to wade through it). It only meant more work for her in the long run, but once she learned the full extent of the damage, time would go by quickly.

She paused for a moment when she spotted a fountain that led up to the palace. The structure had remained rather intact, but water no longer circulated through its elaborate structure. It was finely crafted with marble with Leviathan seated powerfully on a large pedestal in the middle of the circular fountain. Many would actually pray here if they couldn't reach the pagoda for whatever reason and for years, it always heeded to the words of their people.

The urge to do the same was strong, but a frown tugged at her lips instead. "Don't fail me this time," she whispered lowly before continuing her trek back home. One time. It had only been once that not even the power of Leviathan could stop. Or maybe it was from her own inexperience, a naivety that she still remembered rather fondly from her childhood.

Her home life for the most part was rather tamed for her early years. She used to sneak weapons from her mother's collection and practiced them out in the courtyard. The anger shown on her mother's face was difficult to be taken seriously. Those small arguments always ended with a laugh and the continuing about their day.

There was only one time where she didn't see the mischief dancing in her mother's light gray eyes. It was a shame that it was the last time she saw the woman. Yuffie immediately shook her head of the thought, feeling her eyes burn in a familiar sensation.

When she finally found her old home, it was a mere shadow of its former self. The building her old man prided in was nearly all, but destroyed, the hot sun pouring into the structure through the nearly caved in roof. Skeletons scattered about the porch, discarded soldiers left in their final battle alongside their weapons. Vines grew tall against the walls as dead grass peaked through the floorboard. She cringed when it creaked loudly as she put her foot down.

Things didn't look much better walking through the decomposing hallways, large holes in the walls while she could see bugs and other animals scurrying about right under her feet. When she finally turned to a left, she could spot her old man's room. The ceiling was entirely gone inside, now covering the entire floor to the point where the original floor was nigh invisible. It clumped together in large piles, making it even more hazardous than it already was.

The nineteen-year-old scowled before beginning her climb. Maybe she was hoping to catch a glimpse of her father's corpse amidst all the debris, but she would have to scale through it eventually anyway. She was about the middle room when her foot finally slipped, coming down a rather large pile of rock and tile. She felt her body slam against the rotten floorboards, groaning as she lied there for a few minutes sprawled out. "Damn…" she finally spoke out as she got on all fours, rubbing her head with a wince. "Might as well put a hazard sign here!" Yuffie set a foot down and tried to get up, but a loud whine from the floorboard stopped her from moving further. She paused for several minutes, but nothing had happened. As she applied weight onto the foot, however, it sunk through the floor—and there wasn't ground underneath. "Ah, shit!" she cursed before finally standing up.

Suddenly, the entire floor caved in. With a horrified and enraged scream, she dropped into the large hole that formed underneath. The slam to the ground underneath that took longer to get up from, feeling her head thump against hard earth. She was certainly taking in a beating today, how fortunate. She clawed at moist dirt as she got to her knees once more, wringing it out of her hands for a moment in confusion. Since when did they have a basement? It was a rather strange place, more like a cavern than a room. The circular room was spacious and had a rather high ceiling.

Snuck in a corner was a large stone that gave a faint blue tint that piqued the ninja's interest. It wasn't the rock itself, but the strange silhouette that looked inside it; it appeared to be a woman. She hopped to her two feet and walked over to take a closer look.

What was inside should've surprised her, but as she gazed at the woman that was really inside, it felt like she had seen this more than a few times already. The stranger inside was about her height and relatively thin, her skin a ghostly pale from being stored inside the stone for so long. Her hair was a dark blue-violet, her bangs parted to the left with that side being distinctly longer in length than the other. The white dress she wore gave room to show her shoulders with a slit on her right side and a dark violet obi. She wore brown gloves and boots with a red-violet band on each arm and her neck. The woman reminded her faintly of a funeral service, her eyes closed peacefully with her hands nestled at her stomach.

Yuffie raised an eyebrow. "Well… that's… weird." Something in the back of her mind told her to just back away, maybe with how strange the day had been already, or the familiarity of the situation. Instead, however, she placed a hand onto the stone and bent to get a closer look. As she looked at the face—

She noticed the woman's gray eyes were open. The nineteen-year-old gasped, quickly backing away as the stone began to break apart. "… What did I do now?!" she screamed in frustration, growing tired of the increasing occurrences. She only wanted to check on damages, dammit! This was completely uncalled for! The woman stepped out, a crooked smirk twisting on her lips. The anxieties that Yuffie had buried before resurfaced in full force, grabbing her large shuriken from her bag. "Who are you?!"

The woman shook her head, making Yuffie pause. "I think that's the least of your worries right now."

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When he opened the hatches of the _Excalibur _to see where they had landed, Sora had wondered if maybe they had taken the wrong directions. There was little to speak of in front of him and what was left was taken over by vegetation or the large infestation of heartless. "… Heartless?" he cocked his head to the side, scratching his head for a moment.

"In this dump?!" Donald had exclaimed with his squeaky voice behind him, crossing his arms across his chest. Well, that wasn't far from the truth. The only building that seemed to be still standing (though not very intact) was a structure about 20 feet from where they had landed. It may have been once extravagant, but it was in near shambles now. It seemed that the heartless were scampering in that area in particular. Maybe…looking for something?

Sora shrugged. "Well, might as well check it out. Somebody might need some help." With that, the brunette summoned his keyblade and charged forward, slicing through heartless that crossed his path while knowing that Riku and the others could take care of the rest. As they trudged closer, he noted that the amount of heartless seemed to be increasing in rapid succession, while some of the heartless seemed to be completely ignoring their presence, covering the once-elaborate structures as if looking for something. He noted that despite being decrepit, what was still remaining seemed very intricate in design, almost as if this was a palace. Oh! Maybe they were looking for treasure!

"SORA!!" His eyes widened when a heartless suddenly launched in front of him, his claws outstretched to take his heart. In a split second, he was eradicated, ripped apart by _Way to the Dawn_.

Riku narrowed his eyes. "Hey! Pay attention!" Of course, that smile stayed on their lips. "Can't cover you all the time, you know." Sora scratched the back of his head sheepishly before continuing to explore the surroundings, just with a more careful eye. As he hurried down the hallway, he almost passed one room in particular, but screeched to a stop when he noticed the MASSIVE amount of heartless inside. Hmmm… maybe this was the area of problem.

He readied his keyblade, but he felt someone tug at his shoulder. It was Kairi, pointing out further in the room. "Sora, look!" He quirked his eyebrow in confusion, looking around the debris-covered room before something caught his eye. Yuffie was slumped over one of the large building pieces, presumably unconscious. The key bearer nodded his head and charged straight into the room.

It only took a few minutes to clear the heartless, but already, Sora was growing tired of the constant battling with the dark creatures. He already two adventures that involved them, he thought that was enough. It was the typical words of someone who had been through the same course enough and for a boy like Sora, it didn't take long for things to get tiring.

He climbed to the pile of debris where Goofy and Riku had already stood, taking a look over at Yuffie's unconscious form. "Gawrsh, do you think she's okay?" Goofy spoke, concern easily seen through his dark eyes. Sora shrugged in response, kneeling down to shake the nineteen-year-old. At just a mere touch, the dark-haired girl bolted up, eyes like large saucers. Sora barely could move out of the way when she stood, scratching her short black hair in confusion.

"…Did she put me here?" Her shoulders slumped for a moment, a deep scowl on her face. Sora coughed. Yuffie immediately jumped, her body tensing in a flash as she whirled her head. As seeing them, however, she relaxed. "Oh, hey, guys, what are you doing here?"

"We could ask you the same."

Finally, a cheeky smile broke from the girl's face. "Oh, this is my house." His expression drew to a blank at the strange though. Wait—didn't she live in a town? The key bearer honestly didn't think that any normal human being could possibly live in this type of condition. At his own confusion, the girl's turned muddled, back to a scowl as she began to step forward. "Uh, yeah, could I get a ride back to town by the way?"

"Sure," he responded easily, following the girl with moderate interest. He noted that she seemed rather groggy, obviously confused as to what he was doing. "But, what happened?"

"Oh, yeah… Apparently my family's been keeping some psycho in a rock and I somehow set her lose, so I think Leon's gonna wanna know before she starts going on a killing spree or something." While the ninja didn't miss a beat upon uttering those words, Sora immediately froze, face morphing into even more confusion.

"WHAT?!"

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Meh, I'd head straight onto the next chapter, but I decided I might as well keep it with the way it was with the original version by stopping here. However, I'm sure many would notice the difference between the original and edited version. It's the mood I thought would be better conveyed, but I'm still not _entirely _satisfied with this version. One thing I'm always uncertain about adding is the first scene, since this kind of deal was not even _mentioned _in the original concept. But, I added it for several reasons. One, both Kingdom Hearts I and II had a Dive to Heart sequence in it. Two, I think it gives the plot of the story a better feel to it.

I'm not expecting you right away to understand what's going on. Even towards the end, you may not be sure at that point either.

So, um, that's it. Toodles!


End file.
